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Wendy
Wendy

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No Tech Background, 4,000 Visits in 12 Hours — How I Built a Minimal Travel Platform with AI

Intro

One week ago, I had an idea: what if anyone in the world could publish a travel guide — without code, without design tools, just Markdown?
With help from ChatGPT, Cursor, and a bit of persistence, I built Global Travel Guide — a minimal, open-source platform to share travel stories as web pages. No tech background required.
The result? Over 4,000 visits within the first 12 hours of launch.

Product Idea — Building for Digital Inclusion

The internet should be a canvas for everyone — not just developers and designers.
Global Travel Guide is built on the idea of technical equity: empowering anyone to create and publish a beautiful travel page by writing a single .md file.
Think Notion + GitHub — but for travel storytelling.

Tech Stack + AI Workflow (ChatGPT + Cursor)

I had no prior experience with Astro, Markdown-based static sites, or deploying to Vercel. But I had ChatGPT and Cursor as copilots.
I asked GPT to:

  • Recommend the tech stack
  • Help scaffold the Astro project
  • Generate Markdown templates
  • Debug and style components I used Cursor to edit in real time, refactor instantly, and iterate without friction. It felt like pair-programming with an expert.

Promotion Strategy

I shared the launch across LinkedIn, Reddit, Product Hunt, and Dev.to — with a single message:
“Anyone can publish a travel route with Markdown. Just write, and it’s online.”
This resonated deeply with:
Devs tired of overengineered blogs
Creators who want simple publishing tools
People with a favorite trip they’ve always wanted to share
Authentic story + visual demo + open-source repo = viral traction.

How to Contribute

Contributions are welcome! Just fork the repo, add a Markdown file, and open a PR. Instructions in the README.
Live demo: https://localtravelguide.fun
GitHub: github.com/wendy7756/globaltravelguide
If this inspires you — to share your story, to build for others, or to support open-source:
⭐ Star the repo. Fork it. Remix it. Let the world hear your voice.

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